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Berdusk
Berdusk Berdusk is sometimes called the Jewel of the Vale. This is not a term that pleases residents of the rival neighboring city of Iriaebor, though the two cities are firm allies in matters of trade and defense. The Uldoon Trail crosses the upper Chionthar at Berdusk. Three bridges actually span the river here, two making use of a fortified island to shorten their leaping spans. This spot’s usefulness as a landmark and parley place plus the rising of a spring (the River Sulduskoon) to join the Chionthar here and the presence of rapids (the Breaking Steps) in the Chionthar just upstream of this spot have combined to ensure that there’s been some sort of settlement at this site since the dawn days: first the elven moot of Clearspring; then a human fishing village, Sulduskoon; and finally the city known today The current city is named for Berdusk Orcslayer, a local human warrior whose energetic patrols drove orcs from the area, making it safe to farm and opening the Vale for human settlement. Today, Berdusk is an important trading center, much involved in the shipment of goods. High-sided local waybarges are winched carefully through the rapids, which have been known to smash normal rafts and barges, sending crew and cargo to the freshwater kelpies below. Businesses in the city also make many wagons (considered fair to poor by most merchants) and excellent barges, and do extensive wagon repairs. Their wheels are very fine. Woolen mills in the city serve farmers from all over the southern Vale, many of whom go to Asbravn for its large shearing market, selling the wool there to Berduskan millers. Dozens of caravans entirely of baled wool leave Berdusk for elsewhere in Faerûn at the height of shearing season. Berdusk also produces a highly favored sweet wine, Berduskan dark, which is like very dark amber sherry, heavy and burning to the tongue. It fetches 6 gp per bottle or more and travels well. Folk are apt to find it in taverns and eateries all over Faerûn. All of this prosperity is guarded by a city guard of 600 well-trained and equipped warriors of both sexes and all races, assisted by seven roving gauntlets (who raid Zhent and brigand holds, and escort caravans and travelers on the roads around the city) and by the famous Harpers. Not all Harpers look like merry minstrel rogues, but many do, and some can always be seen on the city streets. The ruler of Berdusk, High Lady Cylyria Dragonbreast, is one of the leaders of Those Who Harp. Their most powerful base, Twilight Hall, stands in Berdusk, and many of the shieldmasters (officers) in the city guard are Harpers. High Lady Cylyria keeps Berdusk firmly in the Lords’ Alliance, and the city welcomes all demihuman races. The Silent Lady loves music and poetry, and the city attracts the best traveling minstrels and musicians, increasingly joined by noted bookbinders, limners, and sculptors. This thriving, growing community of artisans has begun to rival Waterdeep in hauteur if not in numbers or quality, and has begun to attract patrons, thieves, and wild romantic tales about its doings. Most tales center around one of two things: sculpted ladies so lifelike that they came to life or artists who’ve decided to expand their studios or rebuild the interiors of their abodes to please their aesthetic sensibilities. The statue stories are often based on real-life wizards’ pranks. The remodeling tales usually go on to say how the artists uncovered pirate treasure brought up the river and hidden here long ago that has made them rich. Certain sages who’ve not led me wrong before say there is a lot of pirate treasure in the city, both hoarded and invested. Discreet inquiries in many inns, taverns, and shops can lead the needy to a dinner meeting with agents representing high-coin moneylenders (sponsors dealing in large amounts). Adventurers are warned that such folk like to see tangible assets before laying out coins. Such assets include keeps in strategic locations, city land holding for a caravan company, warehouses within the walls of a city will doand large fleets of cogs, caravels, or other seaworthy cargo ships. The lenders are unlikely to sponsor forays underground or into ruins in search of legendary treasure. On the other hand, if adventurers make such trips on their own and return with heaps of gems they don’t know what to do with, these professionals can invest such wealth wisely. Some respected names among them: Thoront of the Gilded Hand, Than Tassalar, Orn Manycoins Beldarm, and Aulimann the Patient. My explorations of fair Berdusk were hampered by my unfortunate reputation. Many Harpers seem convinced I’m some sort of Zhentarim agent, just as members of that organization believe I’m a Harper. Their surveillance and other tactics prevented me spending much time in the Jewel of the Vale. As a result, I can give the traveler only an overview of the city’s features and establishments. Some areas in Berdusk are rumored to be Harper warded. Look for tokens like the one shown at lower right. ' ' Landmarks - Berdusk, I should mention, is a city of tall, steep-roofed stone houses that crowd close together, overhanging the cobbled streets that run between. Sewer gratings are everywhere, feeding into a river-flushed system that is intended to keep ice and snow from burying Berdusk in the winter, but serves to keep the city clean and stench free in warmer months. The city guard has regular (and surprise) street patrols, and this, plus the presence of Harpers, keeps street crime to a minimum. Visitors who need a place to camp outside the city walls should report to the city guardthis ensures you of a pleasant welcome, patrol visits from the guard throughout the night, and the prevention of rude awakenings caused by the city guard wanting to know who you are or trying to settle a newly arrived caravan on top of you in their night encampment. Moondown Isle is held by the guard as a practice area and patrol stableyard. Don’t expect to camp there. Berdusk stands within a rough oval of high-girt stone walls that are pierced by six gates. Three of the gates welcome roads carried by bridges across the Chionthar. The most downstream. or westerly of these three gates is Bellowbar’s Gate, named for the city’s first innkeeper, He perished with his inn in a fiery explosion caused by an angry wizard called Shalgar the Masked. The next two are Shortarrow Gate (so named because it’s a short arrow’s flight from it to the island to the south) and Riverroad Gate. East of these is Drovers’ Gate. A road from it runs along the banks of the river, leading to many paddocks, stockyards, and caravan compounds. The next gate, to the northeast, is Vale Gate, and the road running from it is also lined with inns, paddocks, and stockyards. This road is the Uldoon Trail, and runs to Asbravn in the heart of Sunset Vale. The last city gate, on the northern face of the walls, is Woods Gate. It gives access to the east bank of the Chionthar downstream of the city, and is used mostly by hunters and woodcutters active in the Reaching Woods. Within the walls, the city is nearly bisected by the Clearspring, also known as the River Sulduskoonthough it’s a river you can see from one end of to the other. It rises on one face of a tree-girt, rocky height, Clearspring Tor, and runs southwest to meet the Chionthar. West of the Tor is the Inner Chamber, the local temple of Deneir. This is actually a sanctum within Twilight Hall, but the Harper stronghold doesn’t officially exist. Those Who Harp pretend that the entire complex of buildings is only the temple of the Lord of All Glyphs and Images, and they use the wards of the temple as additional defenses of their own. I’ve found a few ward tokens associated with the Hall, but warn travelers that these must be used in particular ways with passwords at particular places to avoid attracting the attention of helmed horrors, spectral Harpists, dread, and other guardians. I have heard tales of Zhentarim-hired thieves and brigands raiding Twilight Hall when some ruse had drawn powerful resident Harpers away. They charged in force, only to be cut apart within a few strides. Southwest and south of the temple of Deneir are shrines to Lathander and Azuth, respectively. The temple to Helm stands also to the southwest of the Inner Chamber, but it is sited farther south than Roseportal House, Lathander’s shrine. A shrine to Leira lies south and slightly east of the Inner Chamber of Deneir. The shrine of Leira is a troubled place these days. Its worshipers are unsure of anything and prone to see danger over every shoulder. Travelers should beware. Shrines to Lliira and Tempus are situated northwest of Clearspring Tor. A shrine to Waukeen right off the Tor to its northwest has become the House of the Hungry Merchant, where downon-their-luck traders can get a warm bed and a meal thanks to donations by Berduskan merchants. Clearspring Tor has been left as a park where folk often stroll, meet, eat meals bought from street vendors, or listen to minstrels. A favorite Berduskan snack, typically sold for 1 cp, is the goldenstar: a triangular eggbread loaf stuffed with sausage, chopped tubers, and chicken sauce. Northwest of the temple to Deneir stands a larger rocky knoll, known as Castle Hill. Its tree-clad slopes are crowned by the High Lady’s Castle, seat of city government and a working fortress, home to most of the city guard. Other guards dwell in the gates’ guardtowers. The boundaries of Castle Hill are adorned by rows of small but very exclusive high-towered homes. These are the most desirable addresses in Berdusk, and are all claimed by citizens so rich that they can leave open commerce behind and pretend to be fun-loving nobility while they really keep cold, sharp eyes on the careful investments that support them. Among the most prominent family names in the self-styled noblesor first folk, as they call themselvesare Athalankeir, Bellanbram, Caunter, Charthoon, Danallbur, Felannlilt, Gort, Halabart, Jalarghar, Lothkarr, Mreen, Oyindle, Parstin, and Uthgolabar. These folk throw parties, play elaborate games of capping each other’s boasts, deeds, and displays of wealth, and pursue faddish hobbies sponsoring falconers one season, dragon tamers the next, all-female adventurer bands the third, and so on. No one else in Berdusk except these folk considers that the city has a nobility Most sneer at the first folk for being lazy play-pretties. Facing the high houses of the first folk across the cobbled streets around Castle Hill are the houses of the wealthiest merchants, known as tall houses for their third- and fourthstory apartments. Among these tall houses stand the Running Stag (a good inn and tavern), the Flourished Flagon (a good tavern), the Heralds’ Rest (a superior festhall), and the Ruby Shawl (a bad festhall). All of these can readily be found by their signboards, enchanted with continual faerie fire spells so as to glow every night. The Heralds’ Rest is denoted by a ring of shields with a trumpet in the center, and all the other signs resemble the names they bear. Also nestled amid the tall houses of the wealthier merchants are temples to Milil and Oghma (and the previously mentioned temple to Helm) and the Dawn of Any Day, a shop specializing in musical instruments and other items that bear minor enchantments. There’s a persistent rumor that the various feather tokens and other minor magics this shop deals in have sly spells woven into them that allow the Harpers to know where they are at all times, and so readily track their bearers. One important street in Berdusk is Steelsword Street. It enters the city by Bellowbar’s Gate and runs north to sweep past Castle Hill, bounding it on the north, then passes north of Clearspring Tor and ends in Amberside, the large open market of Berdusk that stands just within the Vale Gate along the Uldoon Trail. On the other side of the market Steelsword Street continues as Steelspur Way south to the Claw, a five-way intersection just inside Drovers’ Gate. ' ' Another important street of the city is Shondaleir Street, which runs west from the Claw to the Crossways at the western city wall, where it turns north to curl to an end. Along its run, it crosses the Clearspring by the more northerly of the two bridges to span that short water: Leaping Lynx Bridge. The Gollahaer is the shorter street that crosses the Clearspring by the more southerly bridge (the Handspan). It is important because of the many small, crammed sundry and hardware shops that line it, selling odd and rare wares that can’t be found anywhere else between Waterdeep and the rich cities of Sembia. Here’s where knights who simply must have left-handed gauntlets with silver dagger blades affixed to the fingers (25 gp each at Alamather’s by the Water) jostle for room among clerks seeking chapbooks of gilt-edged parchment that are bound with gold wire in calfskin covers with brass corners, and sold in fitted calfskin travel covers to keep the damp away (50 to 75 gp each, depending on size and number of pages, at Ondraer’s Fine Pages). The Gollahaer’s western end is at its meeting with the Minstrelride. The . Tuneride comes into the city at Shortarrow Gate and curves northward to run between the Inner Chamber and Castle Hill, and then crosses Steelsword Street before it ends. On it the visitor will find more temples, high houses, splendid shops, quality inns, and fine abodes of merchants than anywhere else in Berdusk. The only other feature of the city immediately noticeable to a visitor is the walled Thousandheads Trading Coster base just inside Riverroad Gate, east off the Uldoon Trail. Well-guarded wagons of valuable goods are constantly entering and leaving this base, brought to or from caravans assembled east or south of the city. The goods are normally kept in the warehouses within this compound. Day and night, Berdusk is a city of travelers. Through trade (as in, We don’t want to discourage the through trade) is a phrase often used as an overriding principle or concern when matters of gate guarding, taxation (currently 2 cp per wagon to leave the city, and nothing to enter), or city laws are being discussed. Many folk too poor to have a wagon call Berdusk home. It is from here that many of the peddlers who rove the Vale and the Coast lands westward come, carrying their packs on their backs or by mule. (Every traveler can take one mule out of the gates for free. Additional mules are 1 cp each.) These peddlers may buy the wares they sell anywhere, and most have a specialty, be it pipes, lamps, scents, or something more exotic, that they buy wares for in one of the city’s shops. The rest of their packs Amberside is a maze of tiny tent stalls where one can buy almost anythingincluding fine brass screws from Unther and Thay, exotic oils from Mulhorand, and other rarities in the Coast lands. Most peddlers come here because of the carry tubes made from cleaned-out horn, the ready supplies of cheap textiles from the southern and eastern reaches of the Sea of Fallen Stars that they can put into the tubes for sale elsewhere, and the plentiful amounts of small household ironmongery available here, such as hinges, hasps, pots with cover flaps, replacement handles, candle lamps, hooks, coffers, and the like. Amberside is named for a longdead blacksmith, Ilm Amberal, whose shop once stood on the edge of the of items and repairing almost all metal goods brought to him. His work market. He was famous for working made this market the preferred provisioning center for peddlers and both fast and well, turning out scores others dealing in small, useful, nonperishable wares. Small and useful are watchwords that still describe most of the wares sold in Amberside. For furniture and other large goods, seek in the city’s shops. Berduskans love to shop buying or selling. Unbroken goods one is tired of can often be readily sold for half price or less to a shopkeeper who can resell them. Most paid workers in Berdusk do quarter shifts. The open time of a shop is divided into four, and a worker gets two of these periods off to shop and to eat. Shopping is in the blood of a Berduskan. Eating is often done while one is walking in the street from shop to shop or in, a favorite tankard house. Tankard houses were once unique to Berdusk, but are beginning to appear in Waterdeep, Suzail, the cities of Sembia, and other cities where trade and bustle prevail. They’re converted shops where one can get a light meal with a tankard of ale or mead and listen to a house singer or minstrel at any hour. There are dozens in Berdusk, and they are favorite meeting places for citizens, who usually avoid taverns unless they’re planning to get properly drunk or revel and jest a night away. Locals who want to meet without being seen by those who know them tend to try to arrange a chance encounter at a particular spot in the maze of stalls in Amberside. A typical meal at a tankard house is a mug of hot broth or stew; a tankard of minted water, ale, or mead; and a plate of goldenstars and seared meat scraps (bacon, chicken, or chopped sausage) in gravy. On rare occasions, small whole birds (quail, alafluster, wild duck, or grouse), spitted and cooked over the open hearth, are served instead. Three coppers is the price of a meal when there’s music or song to be had. Two coppers is the fare when the house is silent. Good performers get extra coins thrown to the stage. Bad ones may get coppers thrown hard and directly at them. ' ' All in all, I find this one of the most pleasant, cultured, clean, and welcoming cities in all the Coast landslike a little slice of upper-crust Waterdeep without all the crowding, airs, and cutand-thrust intrigue. As I’ve said, my explorations of the city were hampered by Harper suspicion, but I did manage to poke my nose into many of the prominent establishments of Berdusk and ask citizens for their opinions. Information that I gained follows directly. ' ' Places of Interest in Berdusk This center of worship is notorious for its concealment of Twilight Hall. The entire place is a Harper base, its approaches always guarded by watchful, concealed Harpers who command powerful magic. The clergy of the temple thankfully attend to their studies and services, leaving the security and upkeep of their holy house to Those Who Harp. ' ' The temple is only one of a complex of interconnected, low stone buildings, all of which are plain but carved to form a series of beautiful sweeping curves. Most visitors need a guide to point out to them which structure is the temple. Many of the buildings of Twilight Hall have turrets adorned with royal blue, star-shot banners. The temple is not one of those. Courtyards of trees, grass, moss, and rock garden plantings girdle the buildings, and the whole complex is enclosed by its own low (2 to 4 feet high), undulating stone wall. In times of attack, magical walls of force augment this ornamental barrier. At night, the gates of Twilight Hall can readily be seen. They’re flanked by two pillars topped with stone eyes that hold magical everburning candles. ' ' The Inner Chamber is a complex of library rooms and dorters (monastery dormitories) opening off a central sanctum wherein dances a floating, glowing light image: an ever-shifting display of various runes, symbols, and images. The High Scrivener of the temple can halt this display at a particular image, cause it to display a symbol on demand, and even defend herself or the temple by causing it to display magical glyphs or symbols whose discharges she can direct and control. This prosperous temple is visited by many nonworshipers of Deneir. Some doubtless are spies sent to get as close as possible to the Harper doings in the surrounding Hall, but most are folk with money enough to consult the widely respected High Scrivener, Althune Dembrar, about the meaning, origin, and effects of images they’ve found or seen. Consultations with her require a donation to the temple coffers of 50 gold pieces per audience. If magic is involved, the fee doubles. ' ' The Ready House of the Right Strong Hand This holy house of Helm is a large academy of arms, wherein many of the warriors who serve in Berdusk’s gauntlets (patrol units) are trained, as well as warrior-knights who serve Helm throughout Faerûn. The stern reputation of this god is borne out by the vigilant guard surrounding the temple at all times, and by the energetic clangor of arms heard from its inner courtyards constantly Wounded caravan guards and warriors of all faiths can receive healing here at any time. Training, shelter, and tending to the hurts of those not faithful to Helm must be paid for by donating at least 25 gp to the temple for every night each guest stays. Clergy of Helm will firmly insist that injured folk rest at the temple until they are completely healed. Folk unable to offer up such moneys must remain at the Ready. ' ' The temple of Oghma in Berdusk is a dusty, dignified old stone house crammed with books, scrolls, maps, and reading tables and lit by a swarm of obedient magical glowing globes. It is a center of study that specializes in the tales of yesteryear and in news and tales of the here-and-now rather than the more usual focus on genealogy, treaties, laws, and records. The current news and tales are gathered by the energetic High Loremaster of the temple, the gnome Bransuldyn Mirrortor, a former adventurer who delights in donning one of his many disguises and shambling forth into Berdusk or into the Vale beyond to wander and listen. He’s devised several spells that allow him to record what he hears, edit it in his mind, and then transcribefrom afarwhat he wishes into books laid out ready in the temple. Often, awestruck young novices can be seen gathered around a tome that is busily writing itself by those few able to gain access to the inner chambers of the temple. The Seat does not pay for verbal information or lore, although faithful who bring such information as part of an offering will be warmly received. It does pay for booksmoreover, the clergy here value diaries, fancy-tale chapbooks, and other fancies of rumor and lore that other scholars belittle or sneer at. Such tomes typically fetch the seller at least 100 gold pieces from the temple. In a typical tenday, the Seat may acquire three or four such volumes. Magical tomes or any writings from long-lost Netheril command prices in the range of tens of thousands of gold pieces. Lesser clergy of the Seat copy out passages from temple writings (75 gp per page or part thereof), something the faithful and guests alike are forbidden to do. Copying magic requires many more coins and senior priestly permission. ' ' Homes The House of the Hungry Merchant - This former shrine to Waukeen offers poor visitors and beggars of the city a warm bed and a meal. The meal is usually thick beef-and-carrot stew, enlivened by anonymous lumps of chopped meat and vegetables. The House is a big, drafty barn of a place run by merchant donations. Traders of either sex and most races are allowed to stay here. The House is staffed by the city guard, who keep a close and constant watch on guests to prevent brawls, thefts, muggings, and the like. All weapons must be surrendered to the staff during a visitor’s stay. By city law, six nights at a stretch is the longest a person can stay in the House. Guests who are found to have more than 4 gold pieces’ worth of coins on their persons are ejected from the House because it is considered that they can afford their own meals and accommodations. ' ' Alamather’s by the Water This crammed shop on the Gollahaer is a favorite stop for caravan merchants trying to fill special orders. It specializes in one-of-a-kind, rare, or unusual weaponry, often gadgets that conceal weapons or devices that seem more suited to the worship of Loviatar or decadent arena battle than real war. Telescoping sword canes are steady sellers at 125 gp each, with a choice of reach, appearance, and blade-plating. Also popular are the aforementioned gauntlets whose fingers are fitted with silver dagger blades. They cost 25 gp each. Barbed-wire whips are another favorite item at 35 gp each. Such whips are not allowed by drovers in Berdusk. No one talks about the fact that they’re a symbol and tool of the underground slave trade. Professional killers can select from among a varied line of trapped goblets. Unless the goblets’ handles are gripped in a certain manner, springpropelled blades thrust out from the goblets’ bases to slash the throats of drinkers when the goblets are raised and tipped. Other trapped items for sale run from coffers to snuff boxes. Most drive poison needles into those handling them in any but a particular safe way. Buyers must supply their own poison. By law, no shop or concern in Berdusk can sell venoms or refined or magically created toxins. ' ' Ondraer's Fine Pages Bookseller - This shop on the Gollahaer sells book sa small selection of useful books (such as, ahem, my own guidebooks to the Realms), and a large selection of new, blank books, scrolls, frames of vellum, and reams of parchment. These new materials come in a variety of sizes, bindings, and formats, from simple unadorned paper-covered chapbooks to dragonskin-bound tomes half as tall as an adult human male with locks, travel cases, giltedged pages, and sewn-in silk bookmarks. All of them are expensive. The cheapest bound volume in the shop is 12 gp, and the most expensive is priced at a thousand times that. Mages, priests, limners, scribes, cartographers, and apprentices to all of these professions come or are sent here to purchase just the right volume for their needs. Powerful fireproofing enchantments leak out of this shop. Don’t be surprised if your lantern, torch, or pipe goes out as you approach. The proprietor, fat old Ondraeas Ondraer, spends most of his days dozing in a tankard house, leaving his shop in the hands of three sons and two apprenticesall thankfully as able as Ondraeas himself. They can advise you on the right paper to be used with specific bindings, or in a particular clime, or for a particular purpose. ' ' The Dawn of Any Day - This small, shuttered shop seems to front on several streets, including Lute Street, the Minstrelride, Danathar’s Street, and Amble Lane all in an area south of Castle Hill and west of Twilight Hall. The distinctive sigil of the shopthe rays of the sun rising over a harp, which stands atop a luteappears on otherwise plain wooden doors when they offer access to the shop. At other times, these same doors seem to lead into houses that have been divided into private apartments. I’ve been told this is part of the ward that protects the shopa ward linked to a guardian ghost (probably a spectral Harpist, but possibly a watchghost), a series of Evard’s black tentacles spells triggered by thieving activities, and more mysterious guardian beasts. Dweomers of all sorts glow with a faint light when in this shopeven to the skins of those who’ve received a healing spell recently! This shop is run by a mysterious veiled lady known only as Dartheene. She sells items that bear minor enchantments in particular, musical instruments. A persistent rumor in Berdusk insists that these minor magicssuch as daggers that glow with faerie fire upon command, stones that change hue when immersed in poison or tainted liquids or that alter their color when their surroundings reach a certain temperature, scabbards and sheaths that banish rust, feather tokens, and healing potions have spells laid on them that let certain Harpers know where they are at all times. ' ' The shop is small and dim, and many of the wares are used and partially broken. They are usually displayed in small glowing spheres of air that float in a slow, aimless dance in the center of the room while the proprietress stands watching them from the background. If she’s asked for an item, she will step forward and take it out of the sphere, ignoring the other spheres, which shift out of her way. I’ve seen bold buyers try to grasp items and have the globes simply float through them, item and all, as if the people were themselves phantoms. Only Darthleene seems able to free items from this magic. She will give some information about the past of some items if pressedmany seem to have seen service with adventuring bands who are no morebut doesn’t volunteer details, in hopes of making a sale. Adventurers can usually count on getting some healing potions and glow-on-command items whenever they visit (400 to 500 gp each), but all other items are only available from time to time. The shop’s stock seems small. More than one buyer has remarked that these rarer items are not only much dearer4,000 to about 12,000 gpthey all seem linked to various curses, conditions, or spells that plunge their buyers into unintended adventures. The shop never seems to close. Whenever a door into it can be found, Darthleene’s waiting within. One man I met in Berdusk even said that the shop must be a ploy of the goddess Tymora (present as the veiled Darthleenel in order to plunge prudent adventurers into daring and danger but he was very drunk at the time. The veiled proprietress herself told me the shop’s name is another way of saying that adventure can begin any time in your life if you only look for it. Perhaps she serves some as-yet-unrevealed god or goddess of adventure. ' ' Thunderwood Forays - This unassuming shop looks like a very narrow, tall, old stone house with dark green trim and crumbling stonework. Inside, it’s all one huge, high room, with catwalks, balconies, and stairs leading to side galleries where the upper floors used to be. In this cavernous space hang rows of complete suits of armor, ropes dangling like a giant beaded curtain, chains, sledges, wagons and spare wheels, weapons of all sorts, and so ona huge assortment of adventuring gear, from winches to metal belt flasks. It’s all warded, of course, to prevent theft of the weapons, and not only does breaking the ward alert nearby Harpers and city guard posts, it also frees the helmed horror guardians to act. The helmed horrors are also assisted by something worse, a monster that Olbrimsur Thunderwood, the proprietor, refused to make known to me. Olbrimsur is a ranger who spends his spare time scouting the Vale area, particularly the Far Hills. When he identifies the lairs of giants, goblinkin, and other perils, he plans an expedition to deal with themand puts out word around the tankard houses, inns, and taverns so visiting adventurers in town will hear. Olbrimsur sponsors adventuring bands by giving them discounted prices on gear. He sometimes throws in a potion of healing for the group or on especially dangerous forays, one for each member of the group. He furnishes directions, tips on what to do or watch for in various locales, and can put his finger on several known caverns, ways down into the Underdark, hidden valleys often used by brigands or monsters for shelter, and so on. A firm friend of the Harpers, Olbrimsur is viewed as an ally and inspiration by many adventuring bands in the Coast lands. The Flourished Flagon This tavern is a favorite of adventurersin particular dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. On most nights, their rowdy carousing can be heard up and down the street as they dance, sing hurl flagons at each other (hence the tavern’s name), and generally have a good time. The walls are adorned with paintingsoften inept and amateurish done by patrons, proudly depicting heroic highlights of their adventuring careers. It looks like a child’s drawn-on nursery wall full of slaughtered orcs, drow, dragons, liches, beholders, and mind flayers, with a lot of short, plump, bearded folk posing dramatically, chests swollen, in between or on top of all the dying monsters. This tavern is a good place to join up with adventuring bands, though humans and elves aren’t made all that welcome. The 10 or so gnomes who own the placeall of whom answer to the name of Markloare rumored to hide or invest coins brought in by adventurers, and perhaps even fence stolen goodsbut I was unable to learn if this was true. If you’re a dwarf, gnome, or halfling, try asking. ' ' The Running Stag - This establishment is mainly a drinking spot, but has a few rooms to let upstairs. Guests in these rooms can eat in the kitchens, but there’s no dining room, and little escape from the good-natured noise and bustle of the taproom. The decor in the Stag’s taproom mimics a forest, with pillars done up to look like trees, vines, and living tree limbs sprouting leaves overhead. Illumination is provided by several driftglobes kept above the leaves by netting. A timed spell shifts their light from sunlight to moonlight in accordance with the passage of time outside. There’s an endlessly tinkling spring in the center of the taproom that cascades out of a rock pile to flow into a little pond studded with lily pads. The spring is real, not magically animated, and yields the soft water used in the brewing of the Old Dark (ale) and Elder Root (stout) served here. These beers are brewed in the cellar, which makes the place reek of hops and The Stag also serves a full list of wines, zzar, sherries, mead, and liqueurs from the far corners of the Realms. The only food to be had, though, is cheese and hot buttered biscuits. barley from time to time. Foresters, rangers, woodcutters, wood elves, and other forest folk feel at home here. Even korred and satyrs have been seen in the Stag from time to time, slipping in for a tankard on wet or icy nights. I’m told this is the place in town to hire guides, and it is famous as the site of a duel some 10 years ago between two druids. A druid of Silvanus disputed a matter of forest management with a nonlocal druida hierophant, it turned out, dedicated to Eldath. Before they were done, the tavern had experienced a full-blown storm, an earthquake, wild plant growth and trees wrestling with each other, a snarling, snapping, goring and charging stampede of woodland beings locked in combat with each other, and fungi growing on and out of everything with bewildering speed. At the end the devotee of Silvanus was in serpent form, helplessly entangled in a ball of roots, and gasping in the full torrent of the spring. All traces of the mess were cleaned up long ago, and there’s now a sign on the door: No druidic duels today/The Management. (Underneath, someone has scrawled: Not even a little one?) I felt relaxed and at home here, even given the exotic decor. This is a good place to drink, and not a bad one to stay inif you’re a sound sleeper. ' ' Tankard Houses The attractiveness of these drinking parlors varies with whoever’s performing while you’re in them, of course, but from what locals tell me, the better tankard houses include the following establishments: Blackpost’s Bench on Steelsword Street, Lonelycoins House on the Minstrelride, the Riverbarge on Steelspur Way, Three Brave Harpists on the Gollahaer, and the Bellblade Throne on the Uldoon Trail. (For lack of room, I was unable to show the locations of all the city’s tankard houses on the map I rendered of the city.) There’s also the Curious Kelpie, a tankard house that only opens when its owners, the Dragon Daggers halfelven adventuring band, are in town. Caravan merchants flock there then to see what treasure the Daggers have brought back from ongoing explorations of ruins somewhere in the Coast lands. Spies say the Daggers pass through a gate somewhere west of Berduskand then close the way behind them, so that none can follow where they go. ' ' The Sign of the Silver Sword - Whiz large, well-built inn features lush, deep, sound-deadening carpeting throughout. Glowing globes provide soft, continuous lighting in the large guest rooms, each of which has a bath, a water-flush garderobe, a canopied bed, a writing table, and a big, soft easy chair. Even more wondrous than thatthe rooms are quiet! The only drawback? Service is almost nonexistent, and there are no bell pulls, so you trudge down to the front desk, ask for something, are given a polite reply, and then nothing happens until the following evening, it seems. Ah, wellthis is a great place for the self-sufficient traveler or one just wanting to rest undisturbed. All guest rooms have privacy bars that can be emplaced from within to block door and windows. However, I suspect that secret passages allow staff to enter barred rooms through sliding panels in the backs of the walk-in cloak closets. The food is good. The accent is on roast boar and venison cleanly cooked in wine, and I managed to prevail upon the chef, a one-eyed dwarf lass by the name of Shundasza Broadaxe, to pass on details of the one dish that I found a real standout: hot river crabs. To make this recipe, one needs fresh soft-shelled crabs crabs who’ve shed their shells for larger ones, but not yet grown hard chitin again. They’re best eaten within half a day of taking from the water or half the taste is gone. These crabs cost 1 cp each and are worth thrice that and more. They are a mouth-watering delight, I assure you. They go well with white wine or Saerloonian glowfire. Try a platter with hot soup ' ' Hullybuck’s Gamble This sprawling, labyrinthine place is an untidy linkage of former warehouses and tall houses, and now functions as a combination inn, safe storage house, and rental stables. The part serving as a safe storage house actually is a fencing area for stolen goods, as everyone in Berdusk seems to know, though the Harpers and city guard turn a blind eye to most things short of magical items and slaves. Horses and mules can be traded, rented for use in the Vale only, or bought outright. I’ll say only this about them: Beware spavined old nags enspelled to seem pain-free and frisky for a day or so. The proprietor, Raphtosz Hurl Hullybuck, prefers halflings as guests, although all folk short of orcs will be accommodated. (Nonhalflings just get the worst rooms, that’s all.) Hullybuck’s nickname, it must be said, comes from his ability to pick up belligerent guests and toss them out into the street through whatever closed doors or other folk happen to be in the way. I strongly suspect a girdle of giant strength or similar magical aid. ' ' The Heralds’ Rest - This exclusive, luxurious private home looks like a small castle. Inside it’s a haven of tapestries, carpeting’ discreet veils, and polite, skilled lady and gentleman escorts. Reputed to be run by a former princess from a city-state of the eastern Sea of Fallen Stars who grew weary of the dictates of protocol and class, the Rest takes its name from a long-ago visit by three High Heralds, predecessors of the present-day holders of the offices, who were so delighted that one took his escort as wife, and all three offered to buy the place. The offer was refused, but the Heralds were allowed to sponsor the Rest through some lean times, and they now share in its profits. There are rumors of documents, treasure, and even Harpers on the run being hidden in the dimly lit chambers and passages of the Restand some folk say magical gates link it with Silverymoon, Ardeep forest near Waterdeep, and with nearby Twilight Hall. High fees are rumored to be paid for discreet use of these portals to courier valuable folk or items about in a hurry. The Ruby Shawl - Every city has another festhalla coarse, sleazy hole. This is Berdusk’s. The Shawl is for the drunk and the desperate only. Recurrent rumors of an invisible magical brooch lost by a tipsy patron occasionally lead adventurers to try to search the escorts’ quarters. Though the Shawl denies that any such brooch ever existed, certain escorts have been known to pay down-on-their-luck mages and clerics to come up to their rooms to cast magical detection spells.